Stark Crossed Lovers

Chapter Twenty-Seven

Sam still felt like she was dreaming. In a matter of a few weeks she had went from never being able to leave the house, to getting in trouble for leaving the house, to wanting to never leave her house again, and now she was here flying through the skies in her own iron armor with her dad. “You might want to slow down just a little bit kid, the faster you fly the harder it is to stop, take it from someone who knows,” Tony said, remembering the first time he had ever tested his suit. But Sam wasn't paying him any mind. She was too caught up in the way she felt flying through the air. “How about we break for a minute, that building looks pretty abandoned, should you crash,” Tony said pointing towards an older skyline building. Sam nodded in agreement, then changed her direction to the building. Not to Tony's surprise Sam fell right on her back attempting to land. Sam let out a small ow before attempting to stand again. Tony chuckled lightly before extending his hand out to his daughter “Here let me help," he said. Sam took his hand and pulled on him finding her feet once more. “Sorry” Sam said low, thinking her dad might be disappointed that she couldn't land. “No need to be sorry, you'll get the hang of it, let me show you how to get out of the suit.” Tony said stepping out of his suit. “Take your hand and just push a little bit on the reactor” Tony said pointing to the glowing arc reactor in the middle of Sams suit. “That should completely retract it back,” he said. Sam did as she was told and pressed down on the glowing circle, and sure enough the suit retracted right back to her diamond necklace. “Wicked,” Sam remarked impressed with the technology of the suit. “Wait, where does the reactor go?” Sam questioned still not fully grasping the situation. Tony smiled at his genius design and answered, “It's the diamond, that's why it activates when you hold it tight.” All Sam could do was smile up at her father. Tony paused as though time had been frozen to him. He gazed on at Sam, finally realizing that she wasn't the little girl he saved fourteen years ago, nor was she the one who played with dolls, or even the one that performed Jonas Brothers songs in the living room, like she was actually in a concert. No, Sam had grown up, she was nearly an adult, and he couldn't be more proud of the person she was becoming. Tony realized that he was starting to feel a lump well up in his throat and decided to change the subject. “Well, you know the basics; flying, getting it on and off, and your breaking needs work. But we need to lay some ground rules about the suit." Sam rolled her eyes after hearing the words "ground rules" come out of her dad's mouth. “The suit is only to be used in times of need, meaning if you ever find yourself in another Doc Oc situation, OR if you are practicing flying and using it with me. Your suit does have all the same functions of a real suit but they are all being monitored until you have completed the training sequence I have set up within the systems of the suit. These special abilities include blasters, and your own A.I. For now though all you need to worry about, is how you are going to land the next time you need to.” Sam knew her dad was a genius, who didn’t? But as Tony explained the features on her suit she just stared in awe. He truly did think of everything. “So what do you think?” Tony asked breaking Sams gaze. “I think it's the best present ever,” Sam said laughing with Tony who joined in on her excitement. Once again his mind started to wonder thinking about Sam. Seventeen today he thought to himself. He couldn't really believe it. Then a thought that plagued his head came to mind. When would there ever be a good time to tell her the truth about her parents? He put his head down slightly but still kept his eyes on Sam, she was facing the opposite direction looking out at the sky. She was admiring the sun change color as it went down. Could he tell her now? Would she hate him? “Sam I was thinking..” Tony trailed off watching Sam snap her head back to look at him. “Yeah dad?” she asked filling in the blank where Tonys words fell short. Tony took a deep breath in and slowly let it out. “We've been out here all day, we should probably start heading back. The thought of that chinese is really starting to drive me wild.” Tony then stepped back into his suit, and watched as Sam held her diamond for the suit to engulf her. He couldn't do it on her birthday, not after making her feel so special with the suit. Tony felt guilty the whole way home about not telling her. But he couldn't especially since right before they took off she told him he was the best dad ever. Once they made it back he tried to clear his head as he watched his daughter unwrap all her presents. “What is this?” Sam said holding up what appeared to be some type of  book. “Oh that is a good one, it's a swear word coloring book, I figured you and Steve could color it together,” Nat said looking over at Steve from across the room. “Very funny Romanoff,” Steve replied back sarcastly holding his cup up to her. Sam slowly made her way through every present, everyone had gotten her something, and her Dads best friend Rhodey was in attendance. “I wasn't sure what to get you until I talked to your dad. I think your gift will pair nicely with your dad's other gift,” Rhodey stated handing Sam a card. Upon opening it Sam was happy to see that there was money in it, but then she looked up confused because of what was written in the card. “Some spending money for your trip? What trip.” Though the suit was a amazing gift on its own, Tony did make a promise to Sam about going to Italy after the Oc situation was taken care off. “Well now that Oc is out of the picture, and because I am tired of hearing about it every time I come home, I also got us these.” Tony smiled handing Sam a plane ticket. “Wait, no way! Are you serious, you are right?” Sam jumped up from her seat at the table. “I promised, didn't I?” Tony said smiling back at her. Sam squealed with excitement and immediately crossed the room to hug her dad. “Thanks dad, this is the best birthday ever I cant wait!” The rest of the night went how any other birthday of hers had went before. Sam carried up all of her gifts to her bedroom, and her dad put what was left of the food away, as everyone slowly parted ways. Once Sam was done making multiple trips to carry all of her new clothes, CDs, books, and shoes up the stairs she finally made her way back downstairs to tell Pepper, and more importantly her dad goodnight. Though when she made her way back to her room she didn't go to sleep. Sam had other plans, her birthday wasn’t over yet. She took out her phone to call Peter, who had already been waiting outside, and told him he was good to come up. Sam opened her window allowing for Peter to swing straight through like always. “Wow, thats a lot of stuff!” Peter remarked to all of the gifts that covered Sam's desk. “Yeah, I think my dad and the others take pity on me being stuck here all the time.” Peter scanned the desk again noting that all of her gifts looked extravagant and began to fiddle with his gift in his pocket, wondering if it was still good enough. “Oh, and guess what! My dad made me my own suit like his! It's for protection or whatever, but its super cool and its built into this necklace.” Sam said showing Peter the diamond. “Wow, that's awesome.” Peter said sheepishly instantly realizing there is no way his gift could compare. “So what is this amazing gift I had to wait until tonight to open Parker? I have been wondering about it all day,” Sam said, the excitement clear in her voice. Peter became instantly nervous and began to stutter out each of his words. "I was thinking we could actually go somewhere else first,” Peter said. Sam smiled and replied, “If you wanted to go to the top of the tower that's all you had to say,” but Peter just shook his head in response. “You want to go somewhere else? Where?” Sam questioned still not understanding. “It's a surprise, do you trust me?” Peter said stepping back on the ledge of Sams window and holding out his hand. “Of course,” Sam said after grabbing a sweater, blushing, then slowly intertwining her hand with his. Once Peter had Sam secure in his arms he slung right out of her window. Sam had no idea where they were going, and she kind of liked it, it was an adventure. She smiled as they swung through the city, excited to see where he was taking her.